Endgame (Last Chance Series) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Dee Davis
that she could have.
"I just don't want to lose all that I've worked for, and dropping three cases in order to unofficially chase after Cullen's shadows isn't exactly the way to make agent of the month."
"This one's totally off the record?"
"Yup. He's tried getting various agencies to investigate, but none of them bought into his theory. So, in typical Pulaski fashion, he's cut through the bullshit and gone straight to the top."
"And tapped you to head up the task force." As usual Harrison was multitasking, talking and typing at the same time, the computer humming with activity.
"Not alone. I'm supposed to share that responsibility with some guy from the CIA. We're meeting him at Cullen's offices tomorrow."
"You don't sound very excited by the prospect." Harrison swiveled his chair so that he could see her, hazel eyes concerned.
"I'm not. CIA types tend to be a bit over the top when it comes to macho, and I really don't want to have to prove myself yet again." There was a hint of bitterness that surprised her. She usually took sexual inequality in stride, the fact that she had to work harder than most men a given.
"I've no doubt you'll wow him." Harrison's grin widened. "You always do."
She bit back a laugh. "I'm glad you're here."
He turned back to the computer. "I just hope your macho man is equally pleased."
"I'm as much in charge as he is. I have every right to recruit who I want to help. Besides, how could he not want you?"
Harrison saw a computer as an endless puzzle, one that fascinated him to the point of obsession. That obsession had served law enforcement well. He could access almost any system, and in doing so, secure information that was otherwise unobtainable. He saw patterns in data that even seasoned detectives missed.
"It's not what he thinks that matters, anyway." She looked up to meet Harrison's questioning gaze. "Cullen is ultimately in charge, and he's delighted to have you on board."
Harrison grinned. "I thought you abhorred using connections to get what you wanted."
"It's not the same thing and you know it." She shrugged off a twinge of guilt, determinedly changing the subject. "What are you finding there? Anything of interest?"
"Well, the best way to test a pattern is to try and find an anomaly. So, using Cullen's database, I've been looking at records for all the members of the consortium. Each company has a designated representative. And in almost every case it's the president or chairman of the board. So I culled out the ones that have had a change in leadership within the last two years. Which ultimately gave me a list of fifteen."
"But there are only six here." She stared at the screen, reading through the names.
"That's because the others were legitimate changes of the guard. Retirement, takeover, that kind of thing."
"And these?" She recognized the names of the recently deceased board members and suddenly it clicked "They're all dead, aren't they?"
"Yup." Harrison nodded. "And more interesting than that. Only two of the six died of natural causes. The other four met with rather untimely deaths. Seems they were a bit accident-prone."
Their gazes met and held.
"Or Cullen Pulaski is right."
*****
THE CLINK OF glassware, low murmur of voices and static from the TV blended together to provide the perfect white noise. Panama City was perpetually full of tourists, people fleeing the cold northeast for sanctuary in the sun, but the Blue Room catered to locals. No umbrellas in pineapple glasses here. This was a whiskey-straight-and-beer- from-a-bottle kind of place.
Exactly what Gabe wanted. He sat in a corner, back to the wall, waiting. He'd put the word out a little over twenty-four hours ago, but he knew his friends would respond as quickly as circumstances allowed. There was a code between them, a bond forged in the fires of hell. There were things they could never talk about, even amongst themselves, but push come to shove, they could be counted upon.
And with Cullen
"I just don't want to lose all that I've worked for, and dropping three cases in order to unofficially chase after Cullen's shadows isn't exactly the way to make agent of the month."
"This one's totally off the record?"
"Yup. He's tried getting various agencies to investigate, but none of them bought into his theory. So, in typical Pulaski fashion, he's cut through the bullshit and gone straight to the top."
"And tapped you to head up the task force." As usual Harrison was multitasking, talking and typing at the same time, the computer humming with activity.
"Not alone. I'm supposed to share that responsibility with some guy from the CIA. We're meeting him at Cullen's offices tomorrow."
"You don't sound very excited by the prospect." Harrison swiveled his chair so that he could see her, hazel eyes concerned.
"I'm not. CIA types tend to be a bit over the top when it comes to macho, and I really don't want to have to prove myself yet again." There was a hint of bitterness that surprised her. She usually took sexual inequality in stride, the fact that she had to work harder than most men a given.
"I've no doubt you'll wow him." Harrison's grin widened. "You always do."
She bit back a laugh. "I'm glad you're here."
He turned back to the computer. "I just hope your macho man is equally pleased."
"I'm as much in charge as he is. I have every right to recruit who I want to help. Besides, how could he not want you?"
Harrison saw a computer as an endless puzzle, one that fascinated him to the point of obsession. That obsession had served law enforcement well. He could access almost any system, and in doing so, secure information that was otherwise unobtainable. He saw patterns in data that even seasoned detectives missed.
"It's not what he thinks that matters, anyway." She looked up to meet Harrison's questioning gaze. "Cullen is ultimately in charge, and he's delighted to have you on board."
Harrison grinned. "I thought you abhorred using connections to get what you wanted."
"It's not the same thing and you know it." She shrugged off a twinge of guilt, determinedly changing the subject. "What are you finding there? Anything of interest?"
"Well, the best way to test a pattern is to try and find an anomaly. So, using Cullen's database, I've been looking at records for all the members of the consortium. Each company has a designated representative. And in almost every case it's the president or chairman of the board. So I culled out the ones that have had a change in leadership within the last two years. Which ultimately gave me a list of fifteen."
"But there are only six here." She stared at the screen, reading through the names.
"That's because the others were legitimate changes of the guard. Retirement, takeover, that kind of thing."
"And these?" She recognized the names of the recently deceased board members and suddenly it clicked "They're all dead, aren't they?"
"Yup." Harrison nodded. "And more interesting than that. Only two of the six died of natural causes. The other four met with rather untimely deaths. Seems they were a bit accident-prone."
Their gazes met and held.
"Or Cullen Pulaski is right."
*****
THE CLINK OF glassware, low murmur of voices and static from the TV blended together to provide the perfect white noise. Panama City was perpetually full of tourists, people fleeing the cold northeast for sanctuary in the sun, but the Blue Room catered to locals. No umbrellas in pineapple glasses here. This was a whiskey-straight-and-beer- from-a-bottle kind of place.
Exactly what Gabe wanted. He sat in a corner, back to the wall, waiting. He'd put the word out a little over twenty-four hours ago, but he knew his friends would respond as quickly as circumstances allowed. There was a code between them, a bond forged in the fires of hell. There were things they could never talk about, even amongst themselves, but push come to shove, they could be counted upon.
And with Cullen
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